I’m posting some kinetic typography (moving text) videos and letting the videos speak for themselves. Happy viewing!
A poem by Taylor Mali.
Euro-Zone Bail-out: Media & Market Reactions
Greece has been bailed out. A number of steps have been initiated by the leaders in Europe. A modicum of stability has returned to the Euro-zone financial (and political) system.
Specific to Greece, euro-zone official lenders’ debts have been restructured in the forms of lowering interest rates from 5.5% to approx. 3.5% and extension of term from7.5 years to 15 or even 30 years. These have been backed by €109 billion bail-out money, an additional €20 billion for Greek bond buyback and €35 billion ECB collateral for Greek banks. Private creditors, officially recognized as Private-Sector Involvement (PSI) have been given a choice of either of three options – rollover of maturing bonds, swap with longer maturities (both backed by AAA -rated collateral) or secondary market bond buybacks. However, the PSI has been defined to include only ‘voluntary’ and ‘substantial’ creditors, which would lead to a number of lenders being short-changed.
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Well, It IS Friday! (Shrug)
All the stars have aligned. It’s Friday, Rebekah Brooks, the Murdochs and News Corp are all over the news AND Rebecca Black has released a new video! So here goes a brilliant mash-up of Rebekah Brooks’ resignation and Rebeccas Black’s YouTube hit song ‘Friday’.
In case, you live under a rock, here’s the original (not the “original”, though). And No, I am not going to link the funny and the not-so-bright parodies floating around the Web.
Okay, maybe one :)
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US Default: Impending Doom or Market Resolution
A good read of an article that discusses the possibility and impacts of a US debt default, brought about by Congress not increasing the US debt limit. The piece goes on to talk about (albeit briefly) about the global repercussions of such an event. Also, it touches on the likelihood of market movements forcing the govt’s hand.
The graph (not from the article), interestingly, paints a thousand words as it depicts the Lehman bankruptcy and the resultant cost of debt rise followed by the forced TARP announcement, resulting in some relief. Expect to see such curves just around the corner!
I am inclined to believe that the market will force some resolution to the current impasse between the Republicans and Obama’s policies. Irrespective of the outcome, the markets will suffer – default would set off a string of indices, ratings and prices fall, while resolution-imposed austerity measures will also have negative consequences, although not as profound nor catastrophic.
“US Default would Likely Cause …” from The Huffington Post
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Our Brains & Google
I’m pretty sure most of you have already read this piece on how our memory is adapting to technology as we tend to remember things that we believe will not be readily available on the ubiquitous Net and tend not store in memory, stuff we know will be readily accessible.
However, the argument seems an extension/ reinforcement of this piece from back in 2007, where the author discusses our reliance on external memory, namely the Net. His article differs from this other author’s article, in that the former actually likes it, while the latter finds it disconcerting, even damaging. In fact, the last article goes on to talk about other side effects, including our diminishing attention span.
Where do I stand? I kind of agree with the notion that the Net is making us too reliant on the “wired word”; I’d rather we stored more in our brains, actual stuff, not just info on where would be able to find that actual stuff! I just think it’d keep our brains sharp.
Did I remember reading all these articles? Nah! I just googled them. :)
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Stress Tests in Distress
A nice little write-up on banks in Europe and flawed stress tests. The methodologies should be looked into, improved upon and then applied to banks in Bangladesh. Better clues to the current liquidity crisis would be revealed and a more detailed picture would emerge.
“Ignoring the Obvious” from The Economist
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Clever Technique for Cancer Treatment
This is a brilliant way to try to treat cancer. The brilliant bits are in the two paragraph preceding the last. Ingenious how they make use of the body’s natural defences and communication system to target deliver the treatment. It makes for great reading through.
“Particle Physic” from The Economist
Hear me out 